Asghar Afghan sacked as Afghanistan captain, Shahidi to lead ODI and Test sides

The Afghanistan Cricket Board has on Monday sacked Asghar Afghan as the captain across all formats following an investigation and has appointed Hashmatullah Shahidi as the new skipper for ODI and Tests.

"The decision to remove Asghar Afghan from captaincy was taken based on an investigation conducted by ACB's Investigative committee which concluded that some of Afghan's decisions as the captain of the team resulted in Afghanistan's loss to Zimbabwe in the first Test of the series between both sides in Abu Dhabi in March," ACB said in a release.

The Board said it will name the new skipper for T20s very soon. Rashid Khan will remain the team's vice-captain in T20s while Rahmat Shah will deputize in ODIs an Tests.

Afghanistan has played 3 ODIs, 3 T20s and 2 Tests this year under Afghan's captaincy and has suffered one Test loss against Zimbabwe which had drawn the ire of the Board.

Afghan was previously removed from captaincy ahead of the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, a move that was criticised by multiple national team players of Rashid and Mohammad Nabi. He was handed back the captaincy from Rashid that year, who was appointed skipper across all-formats following a disastrous World Cup campaign where Afghanistan finished last.